Kihaapiʻilani then went off to Waikapū, for there was Pao, the kāula wahine (woman prophet). As he was making his way along the trail, Pao shared the others there with her about a dream she had had. She said, “There is an Aliʻi that is coming towards us, seeking a partner to rebel with him.” As Kihaapiʻilani approached the house of Pao, a rainbow appeared, and Pao remained standing at the doorway of the house. Pao then said to herself, “Look there, the rainbow forms a kāʻei (sash) across the sky, as I stand here at the entrance to the house.” She then spoke to Kihaapiʻilani, “My Chief is swift by foot.” They then exchanged greetings of aloha, and Pao welcomed the Aliʻi to her home. When they had finished their greetings, Pao asked Kihaapiʻilani, “What brings the Chief here on such a hot, humid day?” Kihaapiʻilani responded, “I have come in search of someone who will bring death to my brother, Piʻilani, for he has treated me shamefully.” Pao then instructed him accordingly, “The one you seek, who will help bring death to your enemy, is near the shore of Kalepolepo. Go down to the coast at Kalepolepo, and if you see a man with inflamed, swollen eyes, that is person you seek.”

Kihaapiʻilani followed Pao’s instructions and made his way down to Kalepolepo where he saw that man described to him sitting there. Kihaapiʻilani approach the man, and the man spoke to him, “What is the reason for the Aliʻi’s journey here?” Kihaapiʻilani then responded, sharing with him the same story that he had shared with Pao. When the man heard these words of the Aliʻi, he urged his canoe paddlers to prepare to take the Aliʻi to Hawaiʻi, to the residence of Piʻikea and ʻUmi. When all the canoe paddlers had gathered and were ready, Kihapiʻilani got on board the canoe and they sailed off to Hawaiʻi. It was not until the evening time that they arrived at Waipiʻo. [Dear readers, this humble writer has found a few other versions of this moʻolelo, and it is perhaps appropriate that I add them in to the telling of this moʻolelo here. According to the versions of this moʻolelo written by S. M. Kamakau and Moses Manu, ʻUmi and Piʻikea were living together at Kailua, Kona, Hawaiʻi at that time in their lives. And in another version of this moʻolelo that was compiled and edited by Abraham Fornander, ʻUmi and Piʻikea were living at Laupāhoehoe, in Hilo Palikū, when Kihaapiʻilani sailed to Hawaiʻi from Maui; Editor’s Note]

Upon their arrival, Kihaapiʻilani went directly to the house of his older sister, Piʻikea, and there the two of them greeted each other with an overflowing of tears and aloha. When they had finished crying with such joy, Piʻikea asked Kihaapiʻilani about his residence on Maui with their older brother. “How are things going with the two of you ruling Maui?” Kihaapiʻilani responded, “One of us is governing in a pono way. Our brother, however, has mistreated me with ill intent.” When Piʻikea heard these words of her younger brother, she began to wail, recounting the times that she had spent with her brother and the places they had gone together in their youth. ʻUmi, who was nearby, heard the wailing of his wahine. As she continued to wail with great intensity, Piʻikea went outside and removed her kapa clothing without shame. When ʻUmi saw this, he thought she was perhaps going pupule (crazy). Piʻikea, however, was intentionally doing this so that ʻUmi, the great aliʻi of Hawaiʻi, would see and understand the gravity of the situation, and so that he would act accordingly. In so doing, Piʻikea achieved exactly that.

When she stopped her wailing, ʻUmi asked of her, “What is it that caused you to wail with such a loud voice and without any shame?” Piʻikea responded, “It is because of the great aloha I have for my brother. It is our first reunion in a long time, and I was just told of the ways that our older brother has mistreated him. It would be pono, perhaps, for us to wage battle against him and bring him to his death.” ʻUmi responded to her, “I do not think it would be pono for us to wage battle against Piʻilani, because he is you own true brother. He is not merely a distance relative of yours.” Then Piʻilani said to him, “If you will not agree to my request to wage battle against Piʻilani, then it is perhaps better that I die, rather than live on in this way.” Hearing these words of Piʻikea, ʻUmi then thought to himself that it was probably best that he not act upon his own thoughts on the matter, but rather that it would be pono for him to agree to the wishes of his wahine.

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About the story...

"He Moolelo no Umi" is one of the earliest known published versions of the story of ʻUmi-a-Liloa, the great chief of Hāmākua, Hawaiʻi. The version of this story that is republished and translated here was first published by Simeon Keliikaapuni and J. H. Z. Kalunaaina in 1862, in the Hawaiian language newspaper called Ka Nupepa Kuokoa. After Keliikaapuni & Kalunaaina published "He Moolelo no Umi," similar versions of this important moʻolelo were published and republished in newspapers by a number of others throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Our kūpuna clearly valued this moʻolelo and the lessons it imbued upon each generation who learned it. We, in the same spirit that inspired our kūpuna to retell this moʻolelo, represent it here, in both its original language and in english, so that our generation and the many generations to come may derive knowledge from the important lessons held within this moʻolelo. And so that we, kamaʻāina of Hāmākua, may find pride in the deep cultural heritage and history of our beloved homelands, the birthplace of this great chief, ʻUmi-a-Līloa.

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